1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data communications networks. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for limiting the number of proxied sessions provided to a group of users locally and network-wide in a data communications network.
2. The Background
ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and Telcos (telephone companies) (collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cWholesale Providersxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cWholesalersxe2x80x9d) typically offer wholesale Internet access and retail Internet access to their subscribers. Wholesale access is typically offered to subsidiary and specialized service providers, CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers), corporations, and Community of Interest (COI) providers. Naturally, the,processing afforded customers of the wholesale variety differs from the processing afforded customers of the retail variety. Subscriber information for individual wholesale users is usually stored by those who lease data communications network access from the Wholesaler. Hence, corporations, CLECs and COI providers do not normally share their user information with the wholesale providers. The Wholesaler, however, typically also has its own retail subscribers whose user information is stored in its databases. In some cases, a particular user might have accounts with both a retail and wholesale provider. Hence, the Wholesaler must distinguish between the user""s wholesale and retail accounts and initiate different actions based upon their status or Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
See, for example, FIG. 1 where a pure retail environment has a number of network access servers (NAS1, NAS2 and NAS3) which provide data communications portals to the Wholesaler""s point of presence (PoP) on the data communications network. Each NAS is in communication with a conventional AAA (authentication, authorization and accounting) service maintained by the Wholesaler. Incoming users connect to the NASes by dialing in over the telephone network or in another conventional manner such as via DSL (digital subscriber line) access, cable, ISDN (integrated services digital network), etc.
Traditional wholesale ISPs and Roaming Service Providers offer network access through a technique called xe2x80x9cauthentication proxying.xe2x80x9d Proxying involves the transfer of the authentication responsibility to the xe2x80x9cownerxe2x80x9d of the subscriber. Thus, if a corporation was to outsource its corporate intranet to a Wholesaler, it would give up the maintenance of its dial-up servers (i.e., the NASes). It would not, however, normally want to give up the control of or information regarding its employees. Hence, when a corporate user connects to such a Wholesaler""s network access servers, the user essentially perceives that the user is dialing into a corporate facility when the user is actually dialing into the Wholesaler""s domain and then somehow gaining admittance to the corporation""s intranet.
What really happens m that scenario is that the Wholesaler determines that the user belongs to Corporation A (CorpA) by parsing either the fully qualified domain name (xe2x80x9cFQDNxe2x80x9d) (e.g., Joe@corpa.com) supplied by the user, reading the DNIS ID associated with the call, reading the CLID associated with the call, or by using some other known mechanism. Using a DNIS ID, the Wholesaler looks at the telephone number (or a specific NAS in access networks other than dial-up) through which the user is connecting to the network. So if a user calls in to 123-456-7890 from his number of 123-444-5555, then the Wholesaler can know which number was called, i.e., the completing station. Having determined that the user trying to gain access belongs to CorpA, the. Wholesaler cannot authenticate the user by itself. As noted earlier, the user""s record is still located on CorpA""s equipment. Hence, the Wholesaler will xe2x80x9cproxyxe2x80x9d out the authentication transaction from its AAA proxy service to CorpA. An AAA service within the corporation domain then identifies the user, verifies the password, and provisions the user with appropriate authorizations. It may also receive accounting information, if desired. Then the AAA service at CorpA notifies the Wholesaler""s proxy service that the user is acceptable and passes along provisioning details associated with the user (such as an IP (Internet protocol) address to use or a pool identification of an IP address pool from which an IP address needs to be allocated and any other information that may be needed). The Wholesaler then grants the user access to the network based upon the reply it gets back from CorpA. This technique is called xe2x80x9cproxying.xe2x80x9d This is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2.
To be able to perform basic proxying, the Wholesaler maintains minimal information on its proxy service 14 at its PoP. Information such as supported domain names, the IP address to which the transaction is to be sent, the port number (typically an OSI Layer 4 port number) to which the transaction is to be addressed, a shared secret between the proxy service and the remote AAA service, etc., are typically stored.
For example, turning now to FIG. 2, user Joe@corpa.com dials in to NAS1. A PPP (point to point protocol) session 10 is typically raised between Joe""s terminal and NAS1. A LCP (Link Control Protocol) session is raised between NAS1 and Joe""s terminal. At this time the NAS1 generates an authentication request using a protocol such as RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) to the Wholesaler""s proxy service 14. Proxy service 14 then consults its local configuration database 16. Proxy service 14 then makes a determination about where to send the authentication request (Access-Request in RADIUS). At this time the proxy service decides to forward the authentication request to the AAA service 18 maintained in the CorpA domain 20. The CorpA AAA 18 then consults its local database 22 and authenticates Joe@corpa.com. CorpA AAA 18 then returns an access-accept packet to proxy service 14 which, in turn, sends an access-accept packet to NAS1. Then an IPCP (Internet Protocol Control Protocol) session is raised between NAS1 and Joe""s terminal during which an IP address is returned to configure Joe""s terminal""s PPP stack completing the log-in of Joe@corpa.com.
Frequently a large corporation or similar entity will have a need to provide PoPs at a number of locations to service its clients, customers and/or employees in a number of different cities. For example, a corporation xe2x80x9cCorpAxe2x80x9d located in Los Angeles, Calif. might have some employees using dial-up lines from San Francisco, Calif. and New York City, N.Y. It could let them dial directly to a server in Los Angeles, but the telephone network charges might be relatively high for the long distance connection. Alternatively, CorpA could establish PoPs in these citiesxe2x80x94but the cost is also usually relatively high. Instead, it would be ideal to contract with Wholesaler""s having a local presence in San Francisco and New York. These providers, in turn, can provide proxied access to the CorpA employees without a large capital outlay.
While it might appear ideal to do this, this mechanism raises some problems. For example, if CorpA has a great number of employees in San Francisco, they could overwhelm the PoP and prevent regular retail or other wholesale customers of the Wholesaler from enjoying the service that they paid for. Similarly, a large number of employees spread over many regions could potentially overwhelm the network maintained by the Wholesaler. Accordingly, the Wholesaler would like to enter into an arrangement with CorpA whereby CorpA pays a fee for a more or less specific number of proxied sessions to occur at any one time. When CorpA exceeds this contracted number it is either cut off or charged an extra fee. In this way, the Wholesaler is able to plan for its expansion and receive realistic information on the number of these sessions that it must be able to support. Unfortunately, no current mechanism exists to enable this activity.
A data communications network with a plurality of PoPs maintains a local database associated with each PoP and a central database somewhere on the data communications network. The local database contains a group identification such as a domain identification corresponding to a group of users, a maximum number of proxied sessions to provide the group of users at the PoP and a dynamic proxy session count corresponding to active proxied sessions currently provided to the group of users at the PoP. The central database contains a maximum number of proxied sessions to provide the group of users over the entire data communications network and a dynamic network-wide proxy session count corresponding to active proxied sessions currently provided to the group of users on the entire data communications network. Actions are taken when the group attempts to exceed either the local maximum number of sessions or the network-wide maximum number of sessions by more than a predetermined number. The actions may include assessing extra charges, denying access, and sending warning messages to appropriate recipients.